It is estimated that the information and communication technology sector (ICT) is responsible for 2% of global energy use and carbon emissions. Much of this is due to the energy consumption of data centers. Significant research is underway to develop technologies that reduce energy use and the environmental impact of data centers. On the demand side, virtualization technology is being used to consolidate workload and facilitate information technology (IT) utilization and reduce IT power consumption. Cooling technologies, such as, air-side economizers, and the direct use of outside air further help facilitate data center cooling efficiency. On the supply side, renewable energy and distributed power supply management are being developed to reduce environment impact and cost.
However, the joint behavior of these technologies in an integrated supply demand context is difficult to predict. In particular, the interaction of the technologies with each data center's unique workloads is difficult to predict.